National holiday of the Czech Republic, October 28 - 103rd anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia
27.10.2021 / 15:48 | Aktualizováno: 28.10.2021 / 12:35
Due to the current epidemic situation, the celebrations of Czech national holiday – Day of Independence, October 28, will not take place in Brussels, but we still would like to celebrate this day with you, at least virtually.
Czechoslovakia as an independent state was established as one of the successor states of Austria-Hungary. The representatives of the Czechoslovak National Committee published a proclamation on the establishment of Czechoslovakia and issued a law on the establishment of an independent state. On November 14, Tomáš G. Masaryk, the leader of the Czechoslovak foreign resistance, who found support for an independent Czechoslovakia from the American President Woodrow Wilson, was elected the first President of Czechoslovakia on 14 November 1918. In 1923, President Masaryk also visited Belgium, where he was received by King Albert I.
The legacy of the "founding fathers" of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrique Masaryk, Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Edvard Beneš is also important for today's Czech Republic, and in this context especially the values on which Czechoslovakia was founded more than a hundred years ago - freedom, democracy and justice. These values are of utmost importance also for the Czech Republic as a successor state to Czechoslovakia.
You can also visit the House of European History in Brussels and see the historical milestones which have had major influence not only on the founding of Czechoslovakia, but also other newly established states, the future course of Europe as well as the idea of European integration.
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